Is Sex Equivalent to Exercise?

Sexercise, researchers claim, is a new form of exercise. Coming closer in bed…getting naughty…setting the bed on fire…and the pulsating end…in effect a 24-minute sexual activity can help burn calories equal to about 10 minutes on a treadmill.

According to the findings of a new study, a session of sexual activity counts as a workout for both men and women. However, the number of calories burnt during the session varies for both partners.

While sex burns, on average, 4.2 calories a minute for men, it expends 3.1 calories a minute for women.

The study
The findings of the study are based on an analysis of 21 heterosexual couples aged between 18 and 35 years.

The participants were made to wear armbands called SenseWear, a gadget using accelerometers, temperature sensors and galvanic skin response sensors to measure the calorie expenditure.

The baseline measure of calorie expenditure during exertion was recorded for each participant during a 30-minute moderate-intensity treadmill workout. Later, the participants were instructed to have sex four times over the course of the next month while wearing the armband.

An average sex session lasted for 24.7 minutes where men expended more energy than women, the researchers found.

While men burnt 101 calories during sex, they burnt 276 calories during a sweat-it-out session on the treadmill.

Likewise, women expended on average 69 calories during a session of sex in comparison to 213 calories burnt on the treadmill.

This intensity, researchers say, is moderate. “In other words, sex is better exercise than a walk, but not quite as good as a jog,” researchers wrote in the findings published in the current issue of the journal PLOS ONE.

“Our study establishes that sexual activity may be considered at times as a physical exercise,” study’s lead researcher, Antony Karelis, from University of Quebec said. “But it cannot replace regular exercises like the treadmill,” Karelis added.”

But the positive of ‘sexercise’ can not be overlooked, Karelis highlighted. Researchers observed no difference between participants for their perceptions of effort, fatigue, appreciation and pleasure. For all, getting busy in bed was more pleasurable than sweating on the treadmill.

The researchers recommend that sexual activity should be used as a possible component of intervention programmes for a healthy lifestyle.

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